Happy Birthday!
45 years ago today, LBJ signed the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, creating Single Payer health care for the 65 and over crowd. At the bill-signing ceremony, Johnson enrolled Harry S. Truman as the first Medicare beneficiary (Bess was second), and presented him with the first ever Medicare card. Among other things, this means that I’m older than Medicare, which is a somewhat somber realization. Even more somber (downright depressing, even), is the fact that, in four and a half decades, we never bothered to extend Medicare to everybody as a “perk” of being an American. Because trying to ensure the health of our citizens is decidedly un-American, I guess (very European, though, like legislated vacation and subsidized child care. Friggin’ commies). Much like unemployment benefits only encourage people to be drug-ingesting coach potatoes, health care benefits only encourage people to be slackers. Or something. I dunno. All I know is we’ll never get Single Payer in my lifetime, because, as Illinois Senator Barack Obama once said, “first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.” And that aint gonna happen, ‘cuz “we” won’t ever get the Republicans and Democrats out of the government. But, hey, Happy Birthday to Medicare anyway!
, an electric sports car.
Travis!
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